An alternative nutritional outlook (or why bulking and cutting sucks)

[MindOverMatter]

If you take more fat then your body can absorb, it gets excremented or stored as fat for future energy.

But you are right, excess carbs & fats get stored before protein.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Absorption is dependent on metabolism - hence eating more protein to keep metabolic rate up means you can absorb more food without adipose storage, etc.

MOM - your 5 day split is for an advanced trainer like yourself, who knows what their body responds to best.

For less experienced lifters the best would be some sort of 3-day split IMO.

 

[TedJustAdmitIt]

Alex.....

Why 3 full body workouts a week?

Well I started eating and lifting around xmas time last year,done a 3 day split with around 3 exercises per body part and within 4 months had made great gains(being real skinny to start with how could I not?).

However,I stopped working out regularly around May...work,stress,laziness...usual excuses you know...but kept eating like a horse.

Since then I've read so much conflicting info on workout duration,intensity,frequency and all that that I've confused myself as to how to start lifting again.....3 day split.....5 day split.....full body 3 times a week.....HIT.....HST blah,blah,blah

I can't find the link right now but an article I read suggested that training each body part only once a week was inadequate as the muscle doen't need a whole week to recover before being hit again and that 3 full body workouts a week would capatalise on this.
I think my lack of patience had a lot to do with it as well.....I wanted to write up a routine that would give me max gains as quickly as possible

Your posts have cleared things up nicely for me though so I'm gonna do a search and come up with a good 3 day split and get cracking.....thanks

 

[Warboss Alex]

I know there's lots of conflicting reports mate.. I was confused too, and eventually I decided that the absolute best course of action was to stick with something that was working.

If you gained well on a 3-day split with 3 exercises per bodypart then do it again! though now that you're more advanced, possibly two exercises would be a better recommendation.

If something isn't broken don't fix it.

There's a big fad to change routines, you hear about such-and-such a routine being IT or being 'in', etc etc .. well changing your routine every week won't get you anywhere.

110% consistency put into one solid program is what you need - my advice is to stick with what you started with, seriously. When and only when do you stop gaining from this routine (and I don't mean when you stagnate on an exercise), consider changing it.

Basic 3 day split:

CHEST/TRICEPS
Incline/decline bench
Flat db bench
Skullcrushers
Close/reverse grip bench

BACK/BICEPS
Barbell/preacher/ez curl
Hammer/pinwheel curls
Lat pulldown/rack chins/chins
Floor Deadlift

LEGS/SHOULDERS
Standing military press
Seated db press
Sumo leg press
Barbell squats

Throw in some ab work between exercises if you're waiting for equipment. If your calves don't develop from the squats then do some calf raises on leg day.

Variation: put one shoulder exercise on Chest/Triceps day and lose one tricep exercise; add in calf raises and weighted crunches on leg day.

 

[Visceral]

That looks like a lot of work, Warboss. Do you think that someone new to weightlifting could handle diving into the deep end like that?

That wasn't a rhetorical question; I really don't know.

 

[Warboss Alex]

The deep end? Hardly, mate.

Assuming they learn proper form, that's a perfectly adequate muscle-building program that beginners and advanced lifters alike can use to progress with - contains all the big compound lifts while leaving plenty of margin for recovery.

You can use a different routine to build strength, but especially as a beginner your muscle and strength gains should be stellar anyway..

 

[TedJustAdmitIt]

That should do the trick,just a couple of questions.....

1)How many reps and sets do you recommend for each exercise?

2)Did a search on Seated DB Presses,in what why do they differ from the standard MP?
They seem exactly the same to me except their...well,seated!

 

[Warboss Alex]

1) With that split I just said? Go to failure on each; no forced reps or anything, but stop when you fail on the positive part of an exercise.

2) They're more or less the same movement.. but standing is much harder!

However, MP with a barbell is easier than a DB press, hence why I said standing military press.. likewise, seated db press is easier than standing db press.

Try 'em and see!

 

[simon]

What's the difference between sumo leg press and normal leg press?

 

[Warboss Alex]

Sumo leg press is done with legs very wide, your feet on the upper corners of the leg press machine - this targets your hamstrings more than your quads.

Normal leg press is at about shoulder width as with squats, feet in the middle of the machine pad or thereabouts..

 

[simon]

Ah, thanks.

How does the 3 day split you posted above compare with this other one you posted a while back:

Chest/Triceps/Shoulders:
1. Incline barbell bench press
2. Incline flies/Weight chest dips
3. Skullcrushers/Close grip bench press
4. Dumbell shoulder press/Military press

Back/Biceps:
1. Deadlift
2. Chin-ups/Lateral pulldowns
3. Barbell rows
4. Barcell curls

Legs/Abs:
1. Squats/Leg press
2. Stiff legged deadlifts/Hamstring curls
3. Standing calf raise
4. Hanging leg raises

 

[Warboss Alex]

I advised someone to do rows AND deadlifts in the same workout? Woops. You sure about that?

Either way, they're much the same workout.. I follow that split myself currently.

It really depends on your level, whether you can train shoulders on a seperate day to chest and triceps (which involve some shoulder work).. I find that my shoulders get worked on chest/tricep day so I do my shoulder exercise then and forget about them for the rest of the week..

Find which suits you!

 

[Visceral]

Originally posted by Warboss Alex
but stop when you fail on the positive part of an exercise.

I've got a nasty habit of failing at the end of the negative part of an exercise. For example, when I'm squatting, my legs fail in the ass-to-grass position, not in the standing up position, or when I'm bench pressing and my arms fail when my elbows are fully bent and the barbell's at my chest.

Failure always catches me by surprise, in that my body never tells me "That was the last full rep I'll be able to do so you shouldn't start another one.", so what am I doing wrong?

 

[mrRuckus]

Originally posted by Visceral
I've got a nasty habit of failing at the end of the negative part of an exercise. For example, when I'm squatting, my legs fail in the ass-to-grass position, not in the standing up position, or when I'm bench pressing and my arms fail when my elbows are fully bent and the barbell's at my chest.

Failure always catches me by surprise, in that my body never tells me "That was the last full rep I'll be able to do so you shouldn't start another one.", so what am I doing wrong?

Who knows? I always fail close grip bench press with absolutely no warning too.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Originally posted by mrRuckus
Who knows? I always fail close grip bench press with absolutely no warning too.

I like to think of it as a mind-muscle connection.. it's something you get with practice and experience; you know when you're going to fail most likely, so you use your spotter (if you have one) to do the positive rep for you, and you lower the way, hence getting another negative into the bargain ..

Visceral, you shouldn't be failing on the negative if you're lifting properly; is your negative slow and controlled?

 

[Warboss Alex]

Originally posted by mrRuckus
Who knows? I always fail close grip bench press with absolutely no warning too.

I like to think of it as a mind-muscle connection.. it's something you get with practice and experience; you know when you're going to fail most likely, so you use your spotter (if you have one) to do the positive rep for you, and you lower the way, hence getting another negative into the bargain ..

Visceral, you shouldn't be failing on the negative if you're lifting properly; is your negative slow and controlled?

 

[mrRuckus]

Originally posted by Warboss Alex
I like to think of it as a mind-muscle connection.. it's something you get with practice and experience; you know when you're going to fail most likely, so you use your spotter (if you have one) to do the positive rep for you, and you lower the way, hence getting another negative into the bargain ..

I workout in a small gym on a small annex of a military base (i'm civilian though) and there's usually no one there so no spotter.

Close grip bp is the only lift where this happens to me. I'm like yeah baby i can do 6 of these after a good first 2 and i fail all of a sudden at 3 instead

 

[Warboss Alex]

Lack of concentration maybe?

Or possibly you need to drop the weight a bit...

 

[King of You]

Would you recommend this type of diet for a skinny guy? I have a fairly muscular body but nothing big. I know this guy who keeps trying to convince me to dirty bulk and eat mcdonalds and chips and trash all day because my metabolism is high.

This same guy said he once was at 3% bf so im noit sure how sound that advice is.

 

[Warboss Alex]

3%? Was he hospitalised at the time?

And yes, this kind of diet is especially good for skinny guys because they can boatload the food (protein first remember) and stay lean while building up their muscle - if your metabolism is fast enough you won't need any cardio at all, lucky blighter.

Incidentally, this kind of eating isn't for one particular bodytype .. I think it applies to everyone, regardless of goals, gender or metabolism, it's a sound, healthy, nutrient-rich diet which should keep your metabolism ticking over to eat away at excess adipose and enough protein in there to feed and build the muscle.

Just tailor the portion sizes to your goals, add more carbs if you're an athlete, you can probably get away with less protein for that too..

Even if you're not interested in bulking up, the benefits of eating protein and eating pro/fat and pro/carb plus all the rest are still many.